The real-time generation of traffic information for information or navigation services is usually based on multiple data sources for the purpose of achieving the best possible quality. These data sources can be of a varying nature, for example human observation (police, traffic congestion scouts) on the one hand, and automatic measurement of traffic data (stationary sensors, floating cars) on the other hand. This results in both apparent and actual conflicts between individual sources, and certain information elements can be supplied only by one source, while other elements can be supplied only by the other source. Thus, for example, the cause of a traffic disturbance is typically accessible only to human observation, while the average speed is typically determined only by an automatic measurement system. This gives rise to the requirement to assign information from different sources to each other.
For this purpose, DE 100 02 918 C2 proposes a method for taking into account different sources with the aid of the degree of spatial overlap. However, it leaves open the question of how the merging of data from one source having a higher spatial accuracy and data from a source having a lower spatial accuracy should be accomplished.
A corresponding example is shown below. The police reports “5 kilometers of congestion between junction 1 and junction 5”. Between the two junctions lie 30 kilometers of highway and 3 additional junctions—the position of the traffic disturbance is therefore very imprecisely determined. At the same time, sensors report 3 kilometers of congestion and 20 kilometers of freely moving traffic on the highway section, while 7 kilometers are not monitored. Which information should be forwarded to the service? Where exactly does the traffic disturbance lie, and which stretch of road is affected? The present invention can satisfy one or more of these and other needs.